Weight loss surgery is a serious decision — don't trust it to just anyone. Your good health deserves nothing less than the best.

Weight loss surgery can make a critical difference in morbid obesity, and help is available at Cottage. The experts at Cottage Health System can help you explore all your options and make the best choice for your healthcare needs.

Cottage offers a comprehensive range of quality services and trained staff to safely assist you every step of the way — from pre-assessments to medical care to post-surgery followup and support.

Being seriously overweight is not only uncomfortable — and, at times, humiliating — it negatively affects one's health and longevity. When repeated efforts to diet and exercise have failed, it may be time to consider bariatric surgery. Now offered at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, weight loss surgery — either through gastric banding or bypass — is not for everyone. But it can be extremely effective in improving one's health.

Morbid obesity — roughly defined as being at least 80 lbs overweight — can result in diabetes and high blood pressure; your back, your feet, your knees can suffer; breathing can be labored, and even sleep apnea can develop; there's increased risk for arthritis, cancer and gallbladder disease, as well as liver disease, stroke and urinary stress incontinence. Such obesity is uncomfortable and significantly affects daily living. For many, it's also embarrassing, humiliating, and depressing.

Relatively new and extremely effective, this surgical approach restricts or bypasses the stomach, meaning that you either can't fit as much food or that less of it is absorbed. You lose that weight, and most important of all, you improve your health.

The option of weight loss surgery is not for everyone. Potential patients are required to attend a number of educational presentations and personal evaluations, and are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the benefits and risks that accompany any surgical procedure, particularly one as life-altering as this.